


The Light in Our Hearts

by Enchantres_de_la_nuit



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs a Hug, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Confident Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Dead Emilie Agreste, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Good Parents Sabine Cheng & Tom Dupain, Help, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Human Plagg, Human Tikki, I Ship It, OTP Feels, Protective Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2019-10-06 06:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17340371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enchantres_de_la_nuit/pseuds/Enchantres_de_la_nuit
Summary: So i suck at summaries so here it goes:After a freak car accident Adrien, at age 17,  is left without a mother and blames his father for her death. More do after he finds out that Gabriel has been cheating on his mother, Emilie Agreste, for the past three years with his personal assistant Nathalie.Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a skilled girl with a heart of gold. This leads her to start a company that provides jobs to the homeless, the elderly, and the disabled while also starting her own fashion line. Everything seems perfect until it's not.Chloe is spoiled beyond reason and thinks that life for her has no consequences... That is until she runs out of money and her parents have no way of helping her. This formerly wealthy girl is left to her own devices and can only count on herself for a way out now.Luka Coufaine is chill. A little too chill if you ask some people. This is changed drastically when the 24 year old aspiring musician is in an accident and becomes paralyzed from the waist down. He learns that life is not as easy going as it seems.All of these people have plenty of learning to do, but some things you just have to learn together.





	1. Chapter 1

The car sped down the slick road, sending a shower of rain water and slight debris over the sidewalk. "Look,” Began Emilie Agreste, “I can not give you the answer that you want! What do you want me to do? Lie? I am not going to do that just so you can have your way." Emilie took a deep breath and smacked the turn signal down.

She pressed a little harder on the gas, frustrated, and took a sharp left turn, causing her to throw Gabriel against the window. This made her feel slightly better. Only slightly, considering there really isn't much that can make you feel better once you find out that your husband has been cheating on you with his personal assistant for the past three years. 

Either way Emilie was still fuming; she knew that she needed to get off of the road as soon as possible because at the rate that she was going, she would probably run the car over the nearest bridge. Mrs. Agreste swiftly made her way into a mall parking lot, the pavement now black with rain water and oil; It filled to the brim with cars.

Gabriel tightened his seatbelt and began slowly as if he were talking to a very dangerous animal, “Look, Emilie I am sorry that you had to find out this way, but I had a small lapse in judgement -” 

The car screeched to a halt into the nearest possible parking space. The middle aged woman was bright red in the face. “SMALL LAPSE IN JUDGEMENT!? It was three goddamn years Gabriel. Not minutes. Not hours. Years. And you are telling me, his mother, to lie to Adrien by pretending that this family isn't broken.” Gabriel blanched. 

She rubbed a hand over her face as if to smooth out the deep lines of anger on her face and finally exclaimed “No. I can not do that. Not to him.” Emilie had had enough with the lying and the pain. There was no way that she would willingly leave the boy she loves the most with such a toxic man. Gabriel was in no way fit to take care of him and it was often that he would put work (and apparently Nathalie) before the needs of his family. 

Gabriel tried run a hand over her arm in such a way as to defuse her and anger; however, this only made Emilie snatch her arm away from his touch.

“Listen,” began Gabriel,” I understand that you are not happy with me right now; however, I believe you should reconsider taking up a divorce. Think of Adrien. Think of the media. What would the world think of all of us?” Gabriel finished this with a cold calculating look. Silence began to fill the car. The only noise they could hear now was the sound of fat raindrops hitting the windshield and the low hum of the car. 

Emilie turned the car off and began taking her seat belt off. She turned to look at Gabriel and, as civilized as she could, answered him “I will not let you control me so that you can have your way. I am not your employee or spineless, I am your wife and I will be treated with respect.

“I will file for a divorce and I will tell our son the reason why. Be ready to hear from my lawyer Gabriel Agreste. I hope you are happy now.” Emilie opened her door, got out of the car, promptly slammed it shut, and began walking to the front entrance of the mall. She could barely hear her husbands screams of protest and disapproval.

Her white and blue striped cardigan was getting wet and she knew that it would be ruined by the time she made it into the building to call her personal driver, but Emilie did not care anymore. Her sodden gold colored flats didn't even make it through the front door before she broke down into tears. How could 20 years of marriage go down the drain so quickly, thought Emilie.

They had been a pair those two; high school sweethearts, owned a very successful business, and had a beautiful -but small- family. Albeit it would have been much larger had there not been complications with Adrien's birth. 

The middle aged woman now sat down, alone and shivering, on one of the abandoned metal benches in a corner and tried to pull her phone out. She desperately trying to control her breathing, but as much as she tried Emilie could not stop the wave of hiccups that came over her. 

“Where is it?” Emilie thought aloud to herself. Vaguely she remembered throwing it at Gabriel just before slamming the car door. Violently, Emilie yanked herself off of the rusty old bench and began strutting her way through the doors. It was raining harder and it was getting hard to see. I need to get to the bakery, thought Emilie.

The Dupain-Cheng Bakery was owned by Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng. Emilie had been best friends with Sabine since grade school and had always kept in touch, even as a famous actress. It had been Sabine who had told her to be careful with a man like Gabriel. Obviously she had been under the delusion of love and never listened. Although she did not agree, Sabine Cheng understood, as she too fell in love with a man. A baker who lived down the street from her home. She had supported Emilie and understood that one could not control one's heart. 

Emilie began to walk down the sidewalk and waited for her turn to cross the street that lead to the bakery's front door. A boy was waiting to cross from the other side. 

He was young, older than her own son, but near Adrien's age group. His black and blue hood was drawn up in a feeble attempt to shield himself from the rain. It had begun to plaster itself to his head and peaks of black hair with blue tips were getting stringy from the rain. 

Emilie had never understood that fad, dying ones hair in crazy colors. It seemed tacky and unnecessary. It looked absolutely horrible on some people, making them look grey or washed out, but others could sometimes pull it off.

The light changed, and both began to cross to the other side respectively. Then, all of a sudden, it seemed like everything around her happened in slow motion. A car tried to make a right turn. The driver saw the blue haired boy just in time to move out of his way and straight into Emilie. It all went dark as she hit the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

It was often that Chloé would go shopping. This time, however, she did not expect to have every single one of her credit cards declined. 

 

“What? What do you mean it's been declined? Do you know who I am? Who my parents are?” she screeched as she ripped her white designer sunglasses off of her face. 

 

The saleswoman muttered apologies and swiped the card again in vain. It wasn't often that this happened, but the saleswoman had worked in high-end stores long enough to know that Chloé Bourgeois was in for a rude awakening when she came to realize that she had been cut off.

 

“I am sorry Miss. Bourgeois, but if you can not pay for this I must ask you to please leave the store…” stated Catherine the store clerk.

 

Chloé felt a wave of humiliation and anger. She would call her daddy and he would fix this. Daddy always fixed it. Surely the woman would be fired for treating her so horribly. It was always the penniless department workers that were the most inconsiderate. I wasn't her fault that they couldn't afford to buy themselves the latest Gucci handbag, or at least pay for a surgery to fix the atrocious mess that was their face. Then at least they wouldn't be so jealous of her natural beauty. 

 

Chloé swiftly snatched her phone out of her blue Michael Kors handbag and furiously dialed her father, Andres Bourgeois. She placed a hand on her hip and began to pace back and forth as she waited for her father to pick up the phone, pausing only to shoot the store clerk a dirty look.

 

“Daddy it took you long enough! There is a very disrespectful lady in this store. Her incompetence is making me break out in hives. Can you believe that she doesn't even know how to work the register?! She is telling me that all of my cards are being declined! Do you believe that? Ugh, it is ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!” She roared. The store clerk simply rolled her eyes, girls like Chloe were always the worst to deal with, they were always perfect little princesses spoiled rotten to the core.

 

“Sweetheart, I’m afraid that I can’t get on that right now, but there is something that I have to tell you. It is about the hotel. Can you come meet me in fifteen minutes? I will wait for you in the lobby.” responded Andres. 

 

“Alright. But I demand that you fire that woman as soon as possible. Her name is Kartherage or Karina; whatever her name is, she needs to be removed from the store for her incompetence and immense disrespect towards me.” Chloe hung up the phone and marched out of the store without paying Catherine a second glance and walked into the biggest storm she had seen in years.

 

\---

 

Andres Bourgeois was a very powerful man. The key word:  _ was.  _ After so much spending, corruption, and His wife’s terrible gambling habits. They led Audrey, Chloé's mother, to lose her fame and fortune and to the eventual bankruptcy of the Bourgeois family. Well, if you could call it that. Andres was no stranger to the fact that this family was merely tied together with money. That is partly why Audrey filed for divorce and the reason why his daughter only liked him when she got to spend however much money she wanted.

 

Audrey Bourgeois had been a very famous designer, that is until she had made an derogatory comment towards those that were less fortunate. This began magazine investigations that led to the eventual downfall of Audrey. Turns out she had been using the homeless as indentured servants so that she could mass produce her products at a low costs. Now bankrupt and in legal danger, she wanted to get as much money as she could before her trial began.

 

Audrey had a serious gambling problem and her legal issues only made it worse. In her desperate attempts to rake in massive amounts of money, she had gambled away most of her earnings and at one point took part in illegal gambling. Eventually, all of her debts became too much and she had to auction off parts of her company. Audrey’s feeble attempts had become too much for her to handle alone, financially that is.

 

Audrey had filed for divorce. The marriage between Audrey and Andre had never been about love. It was always a power move. Andre had wanted a trophy wife and Audre yearned from fame and fortune. Now they both had neither.

 

Not since Audrey's gambling and Andre's scandal. Yes, Ander was by no means a saint. There had been a rumor about Andre's abuse of power within the city of Paris. After some digging, the police had indeed found more than enough evidence as well as proof of money laundering. 

 

Andre had always dismissed Chloé's questions on either scandals, it was only gossip. Now he had to face the wrath of Chloé. He would have to cut her off, it was the right thing to do anyways. She was 22 for goodness sakes! She should have her own job and live on her own accord. _It was -is- tough love._ _She will have to just grow up_. It was the best thing that Andre could do for her, but only if she did what she had to do.

 

Now Andre paced up and down the lobby, that would soon no longer be his as soon as he finished signing some documents later this afternoon. Chloé sauntered her way through the pristine crystal doors and quietly thanked the old doorman, one of the only employees that she held respect for. Her okay mood soon turned sour as she turned to face her father.

 

“Hello my darling! How-”, but Mr. Bourgeois never had a chance to ask how his daughter was before she began to list off everything that had gone wrong today.

 

“ Daddy! You would not believe the day that I have had. First, Adrikins canceled our plans to go to the theater because his atrocious father wants him to learn a new language; I think it's the one one with the fish?”

 

“Sweety do you mean Finnish?” interrupted her father.

 

“ Don’t interrupt me! And then there was that goblin of a woman Christina who was  _ very _ rude to me. To top it all off, I walked back to the car and it was absolutely pouring. My useless driver made no move to help me and I had to ruin my new yellow jacket and my hair is a complete mess! I mean look at it, I had to put it in a ponytail again! That look was so six years ago.” Chloe gave a loud sigh and practically hurled herself into the nearest couch and raised her arm to take her hair tie out.

 

Andre had never known how to deliver bad news and now was no exception. “ Sweet heart, we no longer have money…”, he shifted uneasily in his chair as his palms began to sweat.

 

Chloe, shocked, ripped the band out of her hair, “What do you mean we don’t have money anymore? How am i going to buy the newest Kate Spade purse!? Can’t you just go to the bank and ask for a loan or something?” 

 

“Chloe, my dear, it’s not that simple we have no money. I owe too much. I am selling this hotel to pay off our debts, we have nothing.” explained her father.

 

“What am I supposed to do? Where will I go? I live here.” Shrieked Chloe

 

Andre begrudgingly told his beloved daughter of the gossip and the reasons behind the Bourgeois family bankruptcy. He confessed that Chloé would have to support herself, all she had to her name now was a small two bedroom apartment and enough money for this week's groceries.

 

Chloe got up and pointed a cruel finger at her father, “A job! Daddy I can’t have a job, what if I mess up my hair! Working nine to five is peasants work! I will not put up with this ridiculousness. Surely mother will not be pleased with you.” 

 

This had been the last straw. Mr. Bourgeois was absolutely livid and for once In his life he wasn't going to put up with his daughter's antics.

 

“Chloé! All your life you have been given whatever you have wanted. Not anymore. You need to grow up. I have had it with your severe lack of manners and horrible attitude. Do you think that I don't know what the staff says behind your back?” he exploded and his face had become purple and blotchy. Years worth of pent up anger and frustration with both his daughter and Audrey had been released. His words were like an unforgiving storm, powerful and dangerous.

 

“The real reason why you have only one real friend that your always in danger of losing? No, you need to grow up! You are old enough to be on your own. I have secured a job for you as a receptionist in a nearby hospital and have paid for your first months rent. And there is nothing your mother can do about this, we are getting divorced. In fact, she is responsible for our bankruptcy thanks to her gambling habits.” he stormed towards the large oak doors and yanked them open. “Start packing your bags dear, because you are moving tonight.”

 

Chloe was appalled and there were tears forming in her eyes. Never in her life had anyone spoken to her like that, with so little disregard for her feelings or fear. She knew that she had really done it this time and that there was no turning back from The events that had transpired. Her father had finally had it and now she would pay the price for all the humiliation and ridicule that she had put him through. 

 

With as much dignity as she could muster, Chloe stood up and made her way to the grand doors and looked at her father one last time before going into a nearby elevator. 

 

It was agony to wait for the elevator to actually reach the lobby. At this point was it better to take the stairs? Just as the blonde was turing to go up the stairway, the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Chloe walked in and quickly mashed the button marked with her floor.

 

The doors closed and a wave of tears and anger overcame her. Quickly she wiped at her face just in case the elevator stopped somewhere between the lobby and her floor. How could her father talk so her like that? How dare he! And what did he mean when he said that it was her mother's fault?  It wasn’t a surprise that they were getting a divorce, anyone could have seen it a mile away, but Chloe didn’t understand was how her mother had fallen in a hole so deep. 

 

Mindlessly, the young woman opened the door to her suite and took a surveying glance at her room. The white walls still held a slightly pink tinge from when she had ordered them to be painted a hot pink during high school. She had recently taken up a theme of white with gold and accents of green so that she could put some plants in the room. Now it would all be gone. 

 

It wasn’t often that Chloe cried but today would be one of those days. She hated to cry in front of anyone. It was humiliating and demeaning, exposing yourself like that. Especially, if they knew you already. They would want to know why, how, and invade your privacy. Chloe’s eyes burned as she opened the door to her walk in closet. Her hands were shaking as she pulled her black and white striped suitcases. And slowly, ever so slowly, she let the tears come.

 

More than anything, she was afraid. And she would be damned if she ever let anyone see that she was scared to be alone and to have to be like everyone else. She would rather die before being openly vulnerable. After all, that is what mommy taught her.

 

Chloe opened the suitcases with one hand and held them down with the other. At this point, she didn’t bother taking the clothes off of the hooks and just placed them in stacks inside the suitcases. 

 

It was like therapy for her, organizing. Even though Chloe did not work herself, there were times when she preferred to organize her own belongings. It helped her relax to see everything in its place. She wiped the tears from her face and made a plan, no one would have the satisfaction of seeing her so low.

\---

Slowly but surely it took about three hours and many plastic storage bins to pack all of her belongings. Now all that was left were the bare walls and some shelves. As soon as the splotches in her face cleared she rang up Jean Claude to help her bring her stuff to the lobby. 

 

It would be a lie if she were to say that she knew what was going on. Things seemed to happen as if she wasn’t there. The servants moved around her as they put all of her things into the car. They would have to make three or four trips considering that she no longer was able to use the limousine. 

 

Once they filled the car with as much as they could, she made her way to the main desk in hopes to at least have the satisfaction of telling her father off before he left, but no such thing would happen today. Instead the head receptionist gave her an envelope with some money for groceries, a smaller envelope and the address that would become Chloe’s new residence. The woman held a smug look as Chloe turned to leave. Yet another person that was happy to learn of her permanent departure. 

 

Chloe gave one last look at the lobby before going through the front doors of the hotel and into her car. It was still pouring. For once, the young woman couldn't bring herself to care about how her outfit and her hair and makeup would be ruined. She showed the driver the paper with the address and consequently put it back in her purse.

 

It would be a couple of minutes until Chloe reached her destination, awkward silence filled the car. In the end, she resorted to making small braids in her long hair which she now wore down and looked out the window. She could barely see lampposts through the absolute downpour, but it did not stop her from noticing a far away police light. Even through the rain, it was hard not to see that there was a police and an ambulance light flaring in front of the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. 

 

Chloe Bourgeois knew the Dupain-Cheng’s. They were nice people, even their daughter Marinette was extraordinarily nice. It freaked Chloe out. How could someone be so nice for nothing in return. Either Marinette was too stupid for her own good or she was plotting something for future benefit. That is the only plausible reason as to why she would behave as such. Because of this, Chloe would occasionally make digs at the Marinette in order to try to figure her out. This almost never worked though, if Chloe thought that she was good at hiding her strategies Marinette was even better. 

 

As they drove closer to the accident Chloe saw something that she would never be able to unsee again. There was blood. Tons of it. It wasn’t raining hard or fast enough and this made it spread all over the road. This felt like a slap in the face. There were always worse things than what was happening to Chloe and this was one of them. For as horrible as Chloe could be, she was not heartless and could feel a sense of guilt go through her, only a true monster would have complete disregard for life.

 

This stayed with her even as they pulled up to the apartment complex. The driver , his uniform wet.

 

Chloe was not sure how her new life would pan out. Sure she had a basic battle plan but that if that didn't work out? She took the keys from the drivers outstretched hand and walked to the location of her new apartment. The driver turned off the car as soon as they were parked in front 

of the main office and left to go get Chloe’s keys. In other circumstances she might have gotten out and surveyed the outside of the complex and the surrounding inhabitants, now all she felt was a chill. It was almost as if she felt that something terrible was happening. This feeling had nothing to do with her current situation. 

\---

It did not take long to unload all of her things and the driver was able to bring all of her things in three trips. Now all alone, Chloe sat down on the floor of her would be living room and dragged a heavy box. She didn’t really feel like unpacking because she was so exhausted, but Chloe was afraid that if she remained idle for too long she would probably do something stupid like cry. 

 

It was well into the night, almost three in the morning, when Chole felt like she was done unpacking for the day. Even so, there were still ten or so boxes that still held some of her bedroom things, but those she would just put in the back of her room. It was too late to still be up. 

 

Quickly she changed into her most comfortable pajamas and took off her makeup. Without looking at the mirror she made her way through the bare halls to her room and laid on her bed. No tears would come tonight. 


End file.
